Vauxhall owner demands taxpayer help to keep Ellesmere Port open
Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port factory will close with the loss of thousands of jobs unless it gets support from British taxpayers, the boss of the car maker has warned.
Carlos Tavares, chief executive of Vauxhall owner Stellantis, said the company was ready to invest in the Cheshire plant if the Government also committed support for making electric vehicles.
"We have to have very clear facts and commitments. If those commitments happen then good things will happen," he said.
Saving Ellesmere Port would mean building electric cars there, Mr Tavares said. That would require an even bigger investment than retooling the plant for new petrol or diesel vehicles.
Mr Tavares said his hand had been forced by November's announcement that new cars with internal combustion engines would be banned from 2030. That scuppered had a decision to replace the Astra with another model at Ellesmere Port.
The new model - which had an internal combustion engine - would have protected almost 1,000 jobs at the plant and an estimated 6,000 in the supply chain.
He told a results presentation on Wednesday: “We were preparing new investment, we were clear what we wanted to do and at precisely that moment the 2030 ban was announced. That immediately suspended the decision. We are not going to invest in UK product [with conventional engines] when there is a ban from 2030.”
The Government is desperate to save Ellesmere Port, with fresh investment by a global car maker regarded as a landmark moment for the UK's post-Brexit industrial footprint.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has held several meetings with Stellantis executives about the factory’s future.
On Monday he was called to Parliament to answer an urgent question about the car plant, and told MPs the Government was “absolutely committed to ensuring the future of manufacturing at Ellesmere Port, and to secure the jobs and livelihoods of the workers”.
Mr Kwarteng referred to £500m of funding the Government has made available to support the electrification of the UK car industry as part of plans for a green industrial revolution, signalling this could be used to incentivise Stellantis to support Ellesmere Port.
